The Revenue must observe privacy with
respect to the taxpayers' information. That is to say: every taxpayer's
information must be kept secret and every taxpayer has the right to access to
the information to check if it is correctly kept. The authorities governing
these two rights are Section 4 of Inland Revenue Ordinance and Code on Access
to information.

Official Secrecy

All staff of Inland Revenue Department have to take a solemn oath of secrecy
under the provisions of section 4 of Inland Revenue Ordinance. Breaking the
oath is a criminal offence and it may render the staff liable to criminal
prosecution and internal disciplinary action.

Section 4 is to promote full disclosure of information that is necessary for
the Revenue to assess tax correctly.